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Thread: Stuffed Superdud: Bumpy road to respectable lifting

  1. #1041
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    Quote Originally Posted by stuffedsuperdud View Post

    For now, remember how I have more or less my entire wardrobe in my office? Below is a shot of nearly every non-gym shirt I own:

    "
    not one white collar and cuff shirt. I am dissapointed

    Quote Originally Posted by idlehands View Post

    Granted I work in pajamas 90% of the time. Though now new company does a lot of video chats. WTF do i wear to those at 9am on a Wednesday. Fuck.
    open necked shirt, sweatpants under the desk

  2. #1042
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    Quote Originally Posted by Simon Rest View Post
    not one white collar and cuff shirt. I am dissapointed


    open necked shirt, sweatpants under the desk
    Pretty much

  3. #1043
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    Quote Originally Posted by Simon Rest View Post
    not one white collar and cuff shirt. I am dissapointed
    Hah! Sorry! I'm pretty much the bottom of the totem pole here, and will really be the bottom come a few weeks, so the Gordon Gekko thing is pretty much a no-go...errr, not that anyone should be wearing that universal symbol of corporate douchebaggery anyway, right? They way I figure, as Gilchrest sort of surmised, the whole point of all this is to maintain a trustworthy bearing while also putting others at ease, and that's not this guy:



    Of course there are exceptions to all rules (for this in particular, see British royalty and Roger Moore's Bond) but I'm not as good looking as any of those guys, as the women in my life are so fond of reminding me.

    Quote Originally Posted by Simon Rest View Post
    open necked shirt, sweatpants under the desk
    What's the point of pants? Even the word sounds stupid. Oh wait there's this I guess: The Surprisingly Deep History of Trouser Technology


    Training:
    Clean + press 3 + 5 (LOL cardio...also, hurray I am piling on the press volume):
    40kg x1
    50x1
    60x1
    70x1x5

    That's 2 cleans and then a 3 clean followed by pressing.... Right elbow ROM slowly getting better, I think.

    I was going to go into just cleans, clean pulls, and then DL, but CG called wanting to make a pile of crap for making Mother's Day lasagna, and I went on the condition that I get to eat the leftovers so that will have to wait till tomorrow. While I was there I also saw Room; CG fell asleep because she is the angriest little sparkplug I know and would sooner die fighting in a ditch than end up some psychopath's prisoner, and could not sympathize with our hero, but I was actually much more affected than I initially expected, on many levels. Unlike many reviewers though I did not see a whole lot of hope because come on, does anyone really bounce back from a Jaycee Dugard sort of affair? That said, it was very moving that nineteen-year-old kidnap/rape victim could get her shit together so well under nightmarish conditions. This was also the first movie I've ever seen re: the relationship between a mother and a rape-conceived child, a topic that I have given embarrassingly little though. Oh a more primal level, I'd love to round up the Fritzls and Přiklopils and Garridos of the world and reenact a few of my favorite scenes from Law Abiding Citizen. Also, may the Good Lord bless the former Rep. Todd Akin with a moderately lethal cancer. Nothing too crazy (that's for the actual rapers), but perhaps some sort of Stage 3 colon-centric affair with local mets or something, one that might kill him eventually, but against which he has a fighting chance, albeit at a significantly reduced quality of life. Because he's a fucking idiot and cancer might as well be good for something, amirite? CG: "I swear, God probably has a legitimate use for the disease; he's just terrible at aiming his tumor bullets. By the way, when you have mets to liver lung bone and brain? That's him going full auto on you because of Adam's sins or some shit like that, right?. GBM? That's a fucking headshot, baby!" CG's an asshole, but only because the world is full of dicks, right?

    Oh also, holy crap someone give Brie Larson an Oscar oh wait they did okay good. And get one for the kid too.


    In lighter news, a bittersweet ending: AE sold out of the saddle shoes nearly immediately, thus saving me $250 + tax + S&H. That said, the lady on the phone did mention through giggles of rumors swirling around the factory of a 2.0 version to come later this year, perhaps with similarities to their old Polo model. And now you have the image in your head of a 220lb barbell enthusiast in Los Angeles, California and a (probably 220lb) customer support specialist in Port Washington, Wisconsin gossiping about shoes with bated breath. Thank Paul Grangaard.
    Last edited by stuffedsuperdud; 05-08-2016 at 06:50 AM.

  4. #1044
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    Default Stuffed Superdud: Bumpy road to respectable lifting

    I love my shirts with white collars and white cuffs.

    Course when I was wearing them all the time I was a road warrior / consultant and hired to fix architecture issues for customers. So maybe I was a deuch?
    Cosplay



    Ok link me to some blazer ideas. I have more video calls than I thought.
    Last edited by idlehands; 05-09-2016 at 05:45 AM.

  5. #1045
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    Costume is ON POINT, sir. And hey, rock those contrast collars, because again, it's how one wears it that counts, right? Blazers are actually sort of unique for us: the whole point of a suit jacket / blazer / sportcoat is to make some prissy DYEL English lord* look more masculine, hence the padded shoulders, the horsehair chestpiece, etc etc. Barbells sort of take care of that for us, so really, anything will look pretty good. One thing that occurred to me though is, with our OHP shoulders, if you pile on a jacket with lots of shoulder padding, you might start looking like a linebacker. Fortunately though, the current trend is towards less shoulder padding, so lots of options are available. (The guy behind Dappered | Affordable Men's Style is extremely helpful at tracking down deals and giving wardrobe suggetions, btw, so check that site often.)

    What are you looking for exactly? Do you have something particular in mind, or just a vague sense that something needs to be improved upon? If the latter, start here: The Blue Blazer Hierarchy

    Note that most of the recommendations are stuff that fits the author well (he's like 5'10" 190lbs and looks like he lifts a little...but only a little), and doesn't always work for guys on this site. Most notably, for blazers/suits, he really likes recommending J.Crew's "Ludlow" line, but they're like a straightjacket for me even when I size up. The "Crosby" line that doesn't get much play on the site though does fit nicely, and usually J.Crew releases things in both cuts, so just sub in as needed.

    For a few specific suggestions, most days I use this one:
    FACTORY THOMPSON UNCONSTRUCTED BLAZER IN CHINO

    Cotton, so it's stays cool in Southern California, and there is zero shoulder padding, so it follows my natural shoulder; looks okay on me, should look stupendous on you because you can bench into the high 300s, right. Little homo. Wait for a coupon code; you shouldn't pay more than $80ish, including tax/shipping.

    I also like to mix it up with this one:
    StaffordŽ Linen-Cotton Sport Coat - Slim Fit

    I know, I know, JC Penney WUT?! Well they have REALLY stepped it up in the sportcoat dept and this one is an outrageously comfortable and well fitting jacket (v-shape, high armholes, perfect length), and a steal at sub-$40 (price is slashed + you can add a coupon code on top). Linen-cotton, so again, very comfortable for summer. At this price, of course there's no horsehair chestpiece, only a fusible, but oh well (look up jacket canvassing if you're unfamiliar...it's sort of important but probably not as much as the internet will have you believe).

    Other retailers in this range are of course Banana Republic and J.Crew, so be on the lookout for that too.

    For something more formal and purist (dark navy wool, gold buttons), the most middle-of-the-road path is probably to just go to Nordstrom and grab a Hickey Freeman, Hart Schaffner Marx, or Canali option off the rack and have their in-house tailor tighten it up for you. If you're feeling spendy, they have a made-to-measure option too that my boss likes. It's like what you did with Harry Suits, only your measurements and alterations will all be done on-site by a tailor, and you will have more options than what an online vendor can provide. Ooooh, Nordstrom does not carry Southwick, but other shops might, including independent menswear places. Southwick's blazers are especially appropriate for lifters becuase they do next to no shoulder padding, and have a big range of wools available, from translucent summer stuff to thick winter flannels.

    If you're feeling frugal, since blazers and sport coats are supposed to be casualish, you can compromise a bit, i.e. you don't need bells and whistles such as Super 150's cashmere whatever...not that ANYONE needs that shit anyway, really....unless you want to constantly be worrying about your clothes at work or a fun social event, so it's perfectly fine to hit up Jos A Bank or Men's Wearhouse when they have a sale, get an item for relatively cheap, and have it adjusted (their in-house tailors are not always reliable though!). Just make sure it's their Signature Gold (Jos A Bank) or Joseph Abboud Made in USA (Men's Wearhouse) if you go that route; they only cost a bit more than the rest of the riff raff, or might even be cheaper if you wait for a sale and you get a noticeable increase in quality.

    Or, since this doesn't seem to be too urgent, you can do the fun route I like and hit up ebay, i.e. the world's biggest most organized second hand store. You'll have to be slightly patient and set your filters aggressively to avoid gathering a load of crap, but lots of next-to-new (because how often do these things get worn, really? And people who like wearing these things probably also like taking care of them) items for dirt cheap. I got myself a summery Southwick single-breasted blazer this way, as well as a mega-douchey thick hefty Polo Ralph Lauren double-breasted one that way for like $10 each. I also managed to snag a nice fuzzy Harris Tweed jacket for like $20. Kinda out of place in LA, but probably perfect for fall/winter where you're from. Oh also, it's good that you already know your dimensions, or else the tailoring cost will negate any savings. The usual advice is to make sure you get your shoulder size right because that stuff is super expensive to tailor, but everything else is easy; I try to get it so that at most, I have to have the sleeves adjusted.

    The last options is of course to go straight to the local thrift stores, where you can get things for REALLY cheap, but that's a huge pain in the ass, as the local cheapskates always know when shipments are coming in and will go as far as to wait by the loading docks on restock day.

    Oy this is turning into a run-on and I still have to talk training so I'll leave you at this. Again, check out Dappered | Affordable Men's Style. I've found it VERY helpful for optimizing your bang for buck.

    Oy where was I? OH YES. FUCKING MATTIE ROGERS, GUYS. WHAT THE FUCK. No I am not talking about her not getting to go to the Olympics, because we all knew that wasn't going to happen anyway due to the selection criteria. Things kinda went sideways on the USAW facebook page though and her rabid fans are calling for Sarah Robles's head but at this point, ignorant rants from narcissistic dengenerate fucks is basically standard ops for the internet, right? See also: this log.

    What I am talking about is how godawful strong/fast she is ANYWAY, Olympics or not. I vaguely knew of her existence over the past year or two, but 1. didn't pay attention to her exact #s, and 2. usually confused/conflated her with Maddy Myers whoops. And yea I heard she was hot but guess what? I have Internet porn so that wasn't really a selling point. But yesterday I finally looked, and hory fuark she did 105/133 at 69kg BW and holds all the American records at 69kg, this after just two years or so of lifting? Okay NOW I feel like a little bitch.


    Damn.

    So today instead of sitting on my ass I went to the gym and did:

    Clean:
    60kgx3
    70x3
    80x3
    90x3
    100x3
    110x2
    120x1

    Clean pulls:
    120x5
    130x5
    150x5
    160x3

    Deadlift:
    170x1
    180x5

    I decided to clean until it felt hard, and it looks like the recent strength work is translating nicely. 120x1 clean is still not Mattie's 133x1 CJ at half my size, bit it's a step in the right direction at least? Right elbow feels better too. The DLs, I was supposed to do 177kg, but decided fuckit, sometimes you gotta just fuck it and go for it, so 180 it was....i.e. what Klokov can power snatch...eh.

    It's a few hours later and my entire posterior chain is angry. Tomorrow's gonna be fun.


    *Ever read the "workout" sections of menswear forums? It's a fucking disaster. Everyone humblebrags about how fit they are at 6'1" 150lbs and wearing a 38L jacket and 32x34 pants, gives terrible bro advice to each other about lifting, and then recommends "athletic" cut stuff for their bulging quads, where "athletic" just means not that skin-tight slim fit bullshit people are peddling. Well, either that or a fat guy will show up asking for how he can get a Tyler Durden body, and everyone will swarm him with conflicting advice until he goes back to buying "portly" stuff from George Zimmer- oh wait...
    Last edited by stuffedsuperdud; 05-10-2016 at 05:19 AM.

  6. #1046
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    I'm gonna have to read this like three times man. Thanks for all the info.

    Yah that chick is the real deal. Your log almost has me wanting to post snippets from my surreal life. Be warned

  7. #1047
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    Quote Originally Posted by stuffedsuperdud View Post

    Oy where was I? OH YES. FUCKING MATTIE ROGERS, GUYS. WHAT THE FUCK. No I am not talking about her not getting to go to the Olympics, because we all knew that wasn't going to happen anyway due to the selection criteria.
    any chance of an ELI5 version of why this happened. I saw a few things on SM but (like you pointed out) it's mostly fanatics yelling at each other now

  8. #1048
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    All I have is the ELI5 gist, really, since I don't want to read through USAW's legalese. The short is that there were two ways for women to get the spots:
    1. Best lifter at 2014/2015 worlds
    2. How your recent best (I don't know which meets count though) total compares to the international bronze medal average

    Jenny Arthur got the 1 spot. This raised some eyebrows because the rule was written after 2014/2015 worlds, i.e. when they knew it'd go to her. This became especially problematic this past weekend when she was outlifted by Mattie while 6kg heavier, and is actually farther from bronze than Mattie is, which under criterion 2 would have made her the odd woman out, not Mattie. Using 2, Mattie is in a stacked weight class, while Robles and King are not, and both had already logged totals closer to international bronze than Mattie's. As a result, Mattie needed a huge PR total at the "trials" meet to overtake Robles (I think she needed 245ish total?) but it was too much to ask. Robles didn't total at all at the trials meet, which was a source of controversy: why call it trials when a lifter can just fall back on an old total, right? MBasic and others, correct me if this is wrong.

    This system is designed to reward consistent performers and/or people who contributed the most this quad towards earning us spots, but a nasty side effect is that it unfairly rewards people in weight classes with fewer competitors, i.e. -48 and +75. The same thing happened in 2012, when Holley got a spot and Amanda Sandoval (-58?) did not, despite putting together one helluva show and earning best lifter honors for the day. Natalie Burgerner (-63) ended up having to open with a crazy CJ that day to drag up her average and bombed. Another side effect is that internationally, coaches will have their lifters change categories to avoid the stacked ones, so we don't really know which ones will be truly competitive anyway come the Olympics.

    But oh well it is what it is. But all this seems like much ado about nothing: Rogers is 20 and has been lifting for like 2 years total. She knew she was a longshot going in and actually got much closer than anyone could have expected. Not the end of the world, right? She's a tremendous athlete and enjoys a huge following in social/mainstream media, by lifting standards anyway, and lifting keeps on becoming more and more a mainstream sport. If she plays her cards right and stays healthy, she'll be killing athletically and financially in 2020/2024/2028, long after the world forgets about the three women we have this time. I personally would like to see her do some sort of Tommy Kono grand slam where she kicks ass at 69/75/SHW AND win some some sort of beauty pageant, the way he did.


    Training:
    Ugh...might have overdone it a bit yesterday, heh...fuck you Mattie! (jk be my waifu....) My legs felt surprisingly okay today, save for some minor hamstring tightness, but my entire back has been pissed off all day and I was just generally tired. Went to the gym and started warming up with the bar but actually started falling asleep while sitting on the bench, so I called it a day.

    Idlehands: Fire away with your stories. These I must read. Oh, I showed your costume to a coworker and she was like, "Oh shit Brock Samson!" so props on that.
    Last edited by stuffedsuperdud; 05-11-2016 at 02:59 AM.

  9. #1049
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    The juggernaut podcast has a decent recap of the trials. Basically it is based on your total as a % of the average bronze medal performance from about the last 5 int'l meets - Olympics and world championships.
    You have 4 chances to make that total: Worlds last Nov, AO last Dec, Juniors/Seniors a few weeks back, and trials just now.

    A few things that were fucky: Robles was on a doping sanction and shouldn't have gone to worlds at all, her qualifying total was from worlds and she bombed at trials.
    Jenny Arthur got the spot automatically because Casey Burgener got fucked years ago in a similar situation. Also maybe Jenny would have lifted more if she needed to Q at trials.
    Also, Jessica Lucero set 3 american records at trials and is not on the team.

    The main conclusion of the podcast was that Mattie Rogers should go to the Olympics because she performed at trials and because she is hot and would better promote weightlifting. I concur.

    ETA: Also, I watched some of the stream online and a lifter who has posted on this board occasionally, Mary Peck, lifted well and won nationals at 63kg. I also saw an SSC from one of Rips podcasts off stage left during the broadcast when she lifted.
    Last edited by Nate7out; 05-11-2016 at 07:08 AM.

  10. #1050
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    Quote Originally Posted by mgilchrest View Post
    I also agree. If the USAW wants to get better lifters overall, they need much better marketing. As a metric, Mattie has ~270,000 followers on instagram whereas Robles has ~3,300. That means Robles has ~1.2% of the audience there that Mattie does. No one gives a fuck about Robles, comparatively. And the fact that she bombed the snatch is a goddamn insult to the meet, imho.
    oh . . .and don't forget Holly Mangold had a PR too: 188 kg
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    body weight that is,

    . . . .really puts the "+" in the 75 + class.

    ba dump bah, I'll be all week folks !

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